This is still an industry where global production capacity (50-60 GW) exceeds global demand (33 GW is our 2013 forecast) by more than 50%. Typical gross margins have recovered from break-even levels to the mid single digits in 2Q13 and may improve further to the high single digits in the second half, but this is still not enough for operating income to turn sustainably positive for a typical pure-play manufacturer. So these are emphatically not happy times – just less dreadful than the second half of 2012.

Chinese solar stocks are mixed today. While Yingli Green Energy (YGE) has gained 5.2% to $3.45 and ReneSola (SOL) has jumped 4.3% to $2.44, Canadian Solar has dropped 0.6% to $11.73 and LDK Solar (LDK) has fallen 1.4% to $1.38.

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There are 8 comments

JULY 2, 2013 10:54 A.M.

Who Dat? wrote:

Do we really care what Raymond James says...? It's like saying real estate market is not out of the woods yet but the homebuidler stocks continue to RISE 3 YEARS BEFORE THE ACTUAL RECOVERY.

JULY 2, 2013 1:00 P.M.

chris wrote:

If your going to buy solar take these steps:
1)call the CEO
2)tell them you will give them 10 million dollars for 20 million of stock
3)short the stock
4)sell your discount shares in the open market
5)rinse and repeat until bankruptcy

JULY 2, 2013 1:06 P.M.

ChinaSolarLover wrote:

What? Only "not out of woods yet", not "never will be out of woods"? I thought they should be shouting "Sell! Sell! Sell!" now. Recall that they were doing just that at the beginning of the year when solar stocks just started the run. If they were shouting "investors should short into the solar junk rally" when TSL, JKS and SOL were trading at 50% of the current prices, now as they've doubled, RJ should shout even more loudly to urge their clients to dump all what they have to short the damn thing, right? C'mon! Do that! We need more oil to fight the fire!!!

Gordon Johnson, Raymond James, who else can help you dig out of the deep hole you dug yourself in, Ben???

JULY 2, 2013 1:35 P.M.

Marg wrote:

Ben - Can you do anything useful other than copy /paste ...

JULY 2, 2013 2:13 P.M.

gebby wrote:

solar stocks still face overcapacity? demand just increased 30 GW in the last two weeks. Is anybody listening to the Presidents plans for clean energy, Africa, China, Japan? i guess we can only focus on negative. All solar stocks will be higher soon. higher than the highs today. soon.

JULY 2, 2013 3:30 P.M.

EL wrote:

Solar panels for Apple solar farms are made by SunPower !

JULY 2, 2013 3:31 P.M.

Eric wrote:

Solar panels for Apple solar farms are made by SunPower !!

JULY 2, 2013 4:43 P.M.

Anonymous wrote:

The dam will break soon, these oil hedgies and minions cannot hold this back forever.... solar rooftops on every home. Imagine the wealth creation.

Remember this is related to politics. Demand will come online when the masses have access.

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Emerging markets have been synonymous with growth, but the outlook for individual nations is constantly changing. Countries from Brazil and Russia to Turkey face challenges including infrastructure bottlenecks, credit issues and political shifts. Barrons.com’s Emerging Markets Daily blog analyzes news, data and research out of emerging markets beyond Asia to help readers navigate the investment landscape.

Barron’s veteran Dimitra DeFotis has been blogging about emerging market investing since traveling to India and Turkey. Based in New York, she previously wrote for Barron’s about U.S. equity investing, including cover stories and roundtables on energy themes. Dimitra was among the first digital journalists at the Chicago Tribune and started her career as a police reporter at the Daily Herald in the Chicago suburbs. Dimitra holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Columbia University, where she was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in the business and journalism schools. She studies multiple languages and photography.